Slow progress at Meadowlands Racetrack: Rooftop dining spot opens

The Victory Terrace, a rooftop lounge at the New Meadowlands Race track.

The Victory Terrace rooftop’s dining and drinks spot — a second phase of the new Meadowlands Racetrack grandstand facility — opened Friday evening to fair skies, finally.

But strong wind gusts made it somewhat impractical to spend much time at the outside attraction.

It was another familiar, and unfortunate, problem with weather that’s plagued the $100-million facility from the start: It debuted in late November to occasional blizzard conditions on opening night, a harbinger of what proved to be one of the most brutal winters in North Jersey history.

And the poor weather has contributed to a 3.8-percent decline in the amount bet by Meadowlands visitors on races at all tracks this season and a 6.4 percent drop in money spent by those visitors who are betting on the races taking place at the Big M.

Jennifer Joyce of Belleville and Joe Meyers of Lyndhurst have a drink on the opening day of the Victory Terrace.

Other parts of the second phase — including outdoor dining areas called Little Town, NJ and House of ‘Cue barbecue as well as a “bounce house” and other children’s attractions — won’t open for another few weeks because of weather-related construction delays.

Still, track operator Jeff Gural remains optimistic that he can stay afloat, in spite of the challenge of trying to compete with racetracks in other states that offer race purses subsidized by slot machine revenues.

“We’re profitable — but we’re not as profitable as we need to be in order to repay the loans we have,” said Gural, who still has considerable construction-cost debt from the building of the new facility at the site of the former backstretch.

The Victory Sports Bar and Nightclub, open since November, has gotten mixed results, said Gural.

“I thought the sports bar would be more popular,” Gural said, adding that one challenge is that the bar is rarely open at a peak time — on National Football League Sundays — because there almost always is a game taking place next door at MetLife Stadium.

“On the other hand, the nightclub looks like a home run,” Gural added.

Gural said a young woman recently told him that Victory is the only nightclub in the area that measures up to those in Hoboken, Manhattan, or Atlantic City, “so she told me we’ll do well here.” And if American Dream meets its goal of opening in the fall of 2016, Gural said that would mean all-day running of trains to the Sports Complex at least every half hour each day — potentially drawing more New York customers to the track, because they wouldn’t have to drive there.

“I also think there will be a casino here eventually,” Gural added, although Governor Christie’s five-year moratorium on such discussion has almost two more years to go.

Gural has Hard Rock International as an investor and potential partner in outdoor concerts at the track, but scheduling such events has proven difficult.

That’s because Saturday nights — the preferred timing for a major concert — are booked up with harness racing until the Hambletonian closes the season on Aug. 2. Then the rest of that month, the Giants and Jets play preseason games on Saturdays.

The teams revert mostly to Sunday games in September, but by the middle of that month, thoroughbreds come to the Meadowlands site for three Saturday cards.

The rooftop area, which can accommodate more than 500, will be open on weekends to start, but Gural said it could be open on additional nights if there is sufficient demand.

Jennifer Joyce of Belleville and Joe Meyers of Lyndhurst enjoyed a pre-race drink on the rooftop — and pronounced the spot a hit in spite of sparse early crowds. Joyce noted the Manhattan skyline view as a lure, while Meyers called the site “the best spot here to watch the races.” Gural said that the long-term key to the success of the sports bar, the nightclub, the high-end restaurant called Pink and the rooftop ultimately is similar to the fate of the track itself.

“The place has to be crowded, or it’s not going to be successful,” Gural said. “What makes people want to come back is no more complicated than that.”